Use of pelvic organ prolapse staging systems in published articles of selected specialized journals

A standardized system for reporting pelvic organ prolapse is important for clinical communication, patient follow-up, and meaningful comparisons between studies. In 1996, the description of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification system (POPQ) was published. We hypothesized that its use in published articles of specialized journals would increase over time. Articles from eight journals in 2004 and 2007 were included if any attempt to grade prolapse was mentioned. Reviews, editorials, and abstracts were excluded. Use of POPQ increased from 64.9% to 82.1% (p = 0.01) while other systems decreased. POPQ was used more frequently in the US than other countries. Urologists used POPQ less and Baden-Walker more frequently than other specialists. Use of POPQ has increased in the period studied. This trend was observed in all the subgroups analyzed, showing that POPQ is being adopted as the universal language of prolapse in the published literature.